Android on a laptop(x86) ?

[SilverAstro]

Is it possible, anyone done it ?

The Celestron and SkyWatcher WiFi mounts (w. SkyPortal) say "smart phone or tablet required" I have neither, and the screens are very small !

[vlaiv]

Never done it but simple search gives:

http://www.android-x86.org/

 

[vlaiv]

Just remembered, I used to play around with android emulator for PC, was free at the time (looks like it still is):

https://www.bluestacks.com/

this also might come in handy:

https://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-emulators-for-pc-655308/

 

[SilverAstro]

16 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Never done it but simple search gives:

http://www.android-x86.org/

Thanks yes, I just found that as well, so now we need someone who has done it successfully And the big question will be if the Skyportal &WiFi will run on it !

Ah thanks for those links, looks interesting

[SilverAstro]

I found it (http://www.android-x86.org/)

 via this interesting site :-

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/22665/run-android-on-your-netbook-or-desktop/

if anyone wants to read along / try out.

 

[AngryDonkey]

+1 for 'Bluestacks' as mentioned above. I have used this in the past and it did work well.

[JamesF]

You could perhaps try running it in a VM first to see if it does what you need?

Or perhaps use a Raspberry Pi or Odroid with a small keyboard and screen size to suit you?

James

[JamesF]

Looks like instructions for running Android x86 in VirtualBox are here: http://www.android-x86.org/documents/virtualboxhowto

James

[l_stoian79]

@AngryDonkey  were you able to connect via BT or Wifi when using this Blue Stacks?

 

I have installed BlueStacks on my Win10 PC some months ago, the inial idea was to have SkySafari on PC (large screen ) and to control the mount via BT (I have a Skywatcher AZEQ5 on which I have a BT module added and normally I control the mount by tablet/phone with SkySafari...on BlueTooth).

But BlueStacks do not allow BT connections, therefore I couldn't connect to the mount so I quite that project.

[clarkpm4242]

The simpler answer may be to ask around if anyone has an 'old' smartphone/tablet from which they have upgraded?

Use without a SIM.  The small screens are OK with practise.  I am very, very short sighted and manage to star hop using Sky Safari on an average sized Samsung A3 (also with a free screen filter app)

Good luck, Paul.

[stash_old]

If you have a CD drive in your Laptop then you can use a live cd of Android from here load up the software to try it out - only works once else you have to load the software (Skyportal) again - http://www.android-x86.org/download. It will also give you an option to install into a spare partition on your laptop and run from there as a dual boot (depends on Windows version and Bios/efs).  But not for the faint hearted !!!!!!

You could also put the OS into the VM as suggested above.

Android TV box's work well for most Android App's(£30+) and you can connect keyboards/mice and your 60inch TV (if it has an HDMI port) - but it depends how well Skyportal works with non touch screens.

Buy a cheap 7inch Android tablet for £50 new

or just look for a second hand(refurbished) Android phone/Tablet - just watch the Android version number - make sure it works with Skyportal

For Skywatcher Wifi you can use Windows anyway - just use Synscan App pro for windows plus Ascom - works with Vista upwards